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Overturning Citizens United: Is a Constitutional Amendment the Best Path to Limit Dark Money?

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Nermeen Shaikh, Amy Goodman, John Bonifaz, Mark Schmitt - Mar. 13 (Interview) - On Tuesday, Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Democratic Rep. Ted Deutch of Florida introduced a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s 2010 landmark Citizens United ruling that cleared the way for corporations and other special interest groups to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections. The bill is part of a growing movement to overturn the ruling. Today we host a debate on whether the push for a constitutional amendment is the best path to overturning Citizens United. We speak to Mark Schmitt, a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and John Bonifaz, co-founder and director of Free Speech for People. [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Amgen Gets a Gift From Congress

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - Jan. 23 (Opinion) - Senate aides inserted a giveaway into the “fiscal cliff” bill that will benefit the drug maker, but will cost Medicare $500 million.

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When 'Super PACs' Become Lobbyists

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - Nov. 27 (Opinion) - Combining unlimited spending on elections with issue advocacy is a dangerous escalation.

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Citizens United: California Becomes Sixth State To Call For Amendment Against Ruling

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - Jul. 07 (Opinion) -

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White House denies Fast and Furious ‘cover up’

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Yahoo! News - Jun. 22 (Opinion) - President Barack Obama has "full confidence" in Attorney General Eric Holder, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Thursday, brushing aside a growing Republican chorus of calls for the nation's top law-enforcement official to resign or be ousted over the botched Fast and Furious gun-smuggling investigation.

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$55 million for conservative campaigns — but where did it come from?

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Matea Gold, Joseph Tanfani - Jun. 02 (News Report) - The financial firepower that fueled the rise of a network of conservative advocacy groups now pummeling Democrats with television ads can be traced, in part, to Box 72465 in the Boulder Hills post office, on a desert road on the northern outskirts of Phoenix. That's the address for the Center to Protect Patient Rights, an organization with ties to Charles and David H. Koch, the billionaire brothers who bankroll a number of conservative organizations.

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New Evidence of Scott Walker Lying to Congress

Sun, 27 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By John Nichols - May. 27 (News Report) - there is new evidence to suggest that Walker’s testimony to Congress about when he began preparing his anti-labor legislation—which sparked mass demonstrations and a recall movement that will culminate with a June 5 vote on whether to recall the governor—was not truthful.

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Liberals put the squeeze to Justice Roberts

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By George Will - May. 26 (Opinion) - In one of his characteristic conniptions about people who frustrated him, Theodore Roosevelt, progressivism’s first president, said of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, “I could carve out of a banana a judge with more backbone than that.” TR was as mistaken about Holmes’s spine as are various progressives today about Chief Justice John Roberts’s. They are waging an embarrassingly obvious campaign, hoping he will buckle beneath the pressure of their disapproval and declare Obamacare constitutional. The crucial question is whether Congress exceeded its enumerated power to regulate interstate commerce when it mandated that individuals engage in commerce by purchasing health insurance.

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Money Unlimited

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New Yorker - By Jeffrey Toobin - May. 21 (Special Report) - When Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission was first argued before the Supreme Court, on March 24, 2009, it seemed like a case of modest importance. The issue before the Justices was a narrow one. The McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law prohibi

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Bachmann’s Fundraising Whopper

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

FactCheck - By Robert Farley - May. 20 (Fact Check) - In several urgent fundraising appeals, Rep. Michele Bachmann falsely claims that biased “liberal judges” redrew her congressional district “in retaliation for repeatedly standing up to President Obama.” The truth is that only two of the five judges were Democratic appointees, and Bachmann’s Minnesota district has become even more Republican than … More >>

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The Most Powerful Special Interest in Washington: The Acronym

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Micah Cohen - May. 20 (Opinion) - A linguistic plague is creeping through the nation's capital - the "bacronym," where a PAC or bill name is chosen so that the initial letters of each word form a desired word.

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Take the Money and Run for Office

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

This American Life - By Ira Glass - Apr. 22 (Editorial) - For anyone who has ever heard the term "Washington insider" and felt outside — we are with you. So this week, we go inside the rooms where the deals get made, to the actual moment that the checks change hands — and we ask the people writing and receiving the checks what, exactly, is the money buying?

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Fund-raising game upended in 2012 race

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Boston Globe - By Brian C. Mooney - Apr. 08 (News Report) - As the general election for president unofficially begins, its funding will be marked by two firsts: For the first time in the post-Watergate era, neither candidate will use public funds, and the super PACs created as a result of a 2010 Supreme Court ruling will have their first chance to wield their unlimited contributions from wealthy individuals, corporations, and labor unions as the nation selects a president. The vast majority of seven-figure checks is gushing into Republican coffers, making some Democrats nervous. On the plus side for the Democrats, their expenditures have been a fraction of what Republicans have shelled out during the contentious primary season. Under the old campaign finance rules four years ago, Democrats had a rare lopsided money advantage over the GOP, as Barack Obama’s campaign obliterated all fund-raising records, taking in nearly $750 million.

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SuperPAC Money Infecting Judicial Races

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

care2.com - By Jessica Pieklo - Apr. 03 (News Report) - These groups are also funneling unprecedented amounts of dark money into judicial races as well, and the impact the campaign cash has on the nation’s judicial system is not good.

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Romney Gave Money to Race-Baiting Anti-Gay Group

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

care2.com - By Steve Williams - Apr. 03 (News Report) - A state political action committee for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave $10,000 to the National Organization for Marriage, an anti-gay group who it emerged last week had used race-baiting tactics in order to fight marriage equality.

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Players guide 2012 campaign

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

FactCheck - By Brooks Jackson, team - Mar. 04 (Fact Check) - The 2012 campaign cycle marks the first presidential election since the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that allowed corporations and unions to spend more freely in federal elections. The loosened campaign finance rules, coupled with an intense competition between the two major parties, have served only to embolden independent political groups that hope to influence the 2012 races. Below is a list of most major groups that have been active or expect to be active in the 2012 federal elections. Many of these groups can accept unlimited donations. Others can accept unlimited donations and avoid disclosing their donors. There’s even a new breed of so-called independent groups that advocate solely for a single presidential candidate.

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The .0000063% Election

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

nationofchange.org - Feb. 16 (News Analysis) - At a time when it’s become a cliché to say that Occupy Wall Street has changed the nation’s political conversation -- drawing long overdue attention to the struggles of the 99% -- electoral politics and the 2012 presidential election have become almost exclusively defined by the 1%. Or, to be more precise, the .0000063%. Those are the 196 individual donors who have provided nearly 80% of the money raised by super PACs in 2011 by giving $100,000 or more each.

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Medical Whistleblower Dr. Steven Nissen on "Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare"

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jan. 23 (Interview) - As the Republican presidential candidates propose to dismantle President Obama’s 2010 healthcare reform package, we speak to Dr. Steven Nissen, one of the nation’s leading cardiologists. His research into Vioxx and Avandia led to severe restrictions by the Food and Drug Administration, reducing the use of both drugs. Nissen is profiled in the documentary, "Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare," which is being featured this year at the Sundance Film Festival. The film tackles the powerful forces behind the battle over heathcare costs and access.

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Buddy Roemer: GOP Pres. Candidate Who Backs Occupy, Campaign Finance Reform, Excluded From Debates

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez - Jan. 06 (Interview) - We speak with Buddy Roemer, a candidate who is on the Republican ballot in New Hampshire, but has not been invited to this weekend’s two Republican debates — or any of the past 16 debates — even though he is a former governor of Louisiana and four-term member of Congress. Roemer's campaign is unusual in the Republican field: He has refused to accept campaign contributions more than $100, rejected all donations from political action committees, and has made campaign finance the key plank in his platform. He has also endorsed the Occupy Wall Street movement. "[President Obama] gets elected and he says he wants change, but he takes all his money from these same corporations who don't want change," Roemer says. "Special interests control Washington -- I've been there." [Rush transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Secretive Millionaires Funding Online Primary For 'Independent' White House Run

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Justin Elliott - Dec. 13 (Special Report) - Here’s what the group is not so upfront about: It’s fueled by millions of dollars of secret money, there is a group of wealthy, well-connected board members who have control over Americans Elect’s nominating process, and the group has myriad links to Wall Street.

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The Remarkable Political Stupidity of the 'Street' - you know, Wall Street

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

readersupportednews.org - By Robert Reich: - Dec. 10 (News Analysis) - 'Wall Street has blanketed America in a miasma of cynicism. Most Americans assume the reason the Street got its taxpayer-funded bailout without strings in the first place was because of its political clout. That must be why the banks didn't have to renegotiate the mortgages of Americans - many of whom, because of the economic collapse brought on by the Street's excesses, are still under water. Some are drowning.' Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog

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So You Want to Buy an Election?

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Tim Murphy - Dec. 06 (Opinion) - A short, shady history of how American elections are bought and paid for. The red giants and blue dwarfs spending millions to influence the 2012 election. Americans Elect says it wants to reform the political system. Campaign watchdogs say it should star

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In Campaign Financing, More Money Can Beat Big Money

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Lawrence Lessig - Nov. 17 (Opinion) - A public funding system would stop the influence of big money in politics.

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Half the members of Congress are millionaires

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

iWatch News - By Amy Biegelsen - Nov. 16 (News Report) - Half the members of Congress enjoys “1 percent” status as millionaires, according to a new study by the Center for Responsive Politics. While the economy at home and abroad has limped along since 2008, Congress’ estimated median net worth remains robust—up about 7.6 percent from 2009 and about 13 percent from 2008.

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Gingrich Said to Be Paid at Least $1.6 Million by Freddie Mac

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Bloomberg - By Clea Benson, Dawn Kopecki - Nov. 16 (News Report) - Newt Gingrich made between $1.6 million and $1.8 million in consulting fees from two contracts with mortgage company Freddie Mac, according to two people familiar with the arrangement. The total amount is significantly larger than the $300,000 payment from Freddie Mac that Gingrich was asked about during a Republican presidential debate on Nov. 9 sponsored by CNBC, and more than was disclosed in the middle of congressional investigations into the housing industry collapse.

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